Wild Salmon Strongholds, Wild Salmon Center

Wild Salmon Center is working closely with each of the Pacific salmon bearing states to identify wild salmon strongholds for recognition by the North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership. Strongholds are identified by ecoregion to ensure that areas of critical genetic and life history diversity are recognized, in addition to those with the greatest abundance. The stronghold identification methodology uses criteria that is applied consistently across the ecoregions, including the percentage of natural origin spawners, life history diversity, and viability (as indicated by productivity and/or abundance). Each state, which initiates and convenes the process, may choose to augment these criteria with additional decision support tools as needed. The methodology used to identify and map strongholds can be summarized as follows: Assess ("score") wild populations within the study area based on three criteria: percent of natural origin spawners, life history diversity, and viability (productivity and/or abundance); Identify populations that meet or exceed the threshold for "strong, diverse, and wild"; Identify and map salmon stronghold design alternatives, based foremost on the strong population data; Convene a team of regional conservation partners to review stronghold alternatives and agree upon a recommended set of salmon strongholds; and Present the recommended strongholds to the Stronghold Partnership Board for review and approval.